Russian police seize ex-factory owner who fled after shooting

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A policeman stands guard after a gunman opened fire in the pastry-making factory "Menshevik" in Moscow, Russia December 27, 2017. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian police arrested on Thursday the former owner of a pastry factory who had returned to the plant and opened fire wounding one person before escaping a siege by special forces, according to a statement.

The man, named by investigators as Ilya Averyanov, told a radio station during the siege on Wednesday that he had acted in self-defence to stop bailiffs confiscating the factory, which is facing bankruptcy proceedings.

He said he thought he had killed a guard, but a police statement on Thursday spoke only of him wounding a person who was not identified.

A woman who said she was a former employee of the factory told the RIA news agency that there was a tunnel beneath the building through which Averyanov may have escaped.